Ken Griffey Jr. climbed a spot on the career home run chart, and Barry Bonds stayed put at 751.
With his 586th homer, Griffey tied Hall of Famer Frank Robinson for sixth place and helped the Cincinnati Reds beat the Arizona Diamondbacks 8-1 Friday night at Great American Ball Park.
Meanwhile, Bonds didn’t get much to hit in St. Louis. He walked three times and grounded out as his San Francisco Giants held off the Cardinals 4-3. He remained at 751 homers, four shy of Hank Aaron’s record.
“Every time up there, he had at least a strike,” St. Louis manager Tony La Russa said. “You can’t have it both ways. He has a real good strike zone, so if he wants to take a walk, he can take the walk. We’re not going to throw it down the middle to him.”
Bonds called it a night after a four-pitch walk from Troy Percival in the seventh inning, the slugger’s 89th free pass this season. Fred Lewis ran for him, then took Bonds’ spot in left field.
The sellout crowd of 45,245 went after Bonds more times than the Cardinals’ pitchers, and made sure not to waste its final opportunity to boo as Bonds jogged off the field.
“I wanted to get him out of there,” Giants manager Bruce Bochy said. “I know yesterday his hip bothered him a little bit. I wanted to get him off his legs. I hope he can play the next two.”
Griffey connected against Micah Owings (5-4) in the fifth for a two-run shot, his 23rd of the year. Robinson hit his first 324 home runs in 10 seasons with the Reds before being traded to Baltimore after the 1965 season.
Griffey’s drive gave Kyle Lohse a 6-0 lead, and the right-hander took a one-hit shutout into the ninth before settling for a complete game.
“That was one of the nicest games to watch,” said Reds interim manager Pete Mackanin, who is 3-1 since replacing Jerry Narron. “I felt like sitting in a rocking chair.”
In other NL games, it was: Florida 6, Los Angeles 5 in 10 innings; Atlanta 7, San Diego 4; Milwaukee 6, Washington 2; Houston 4, New York 0; Colorado 7, Philadelphia 6 in 11 innings; and Pittsburgh 8, Chicago 4.
Lohse (5-10) struck out five and walked two, finishing with a four-hitter for his sixth complete game and second this season.
“It helps when your team scores a lot of runs,” he said. “I appreciated being able to go out there for the ninth inning.”
Adam Dunn and Brandon Phillips also homered for the Reds, who won consecutive games for the first time since June 10 and 12. Griffey left the clubhouse before reporters entered.
The Diamondbacks have lost six of seven.
At St. Louis, Noah Lowry (9-6) struck out five in six innings to win his third straight start, and Ray Durham hit an RBI single. Cardinals center fielder So Taguchi was charged with a three-run error on a tough play in the fifth, when he couldn’t keep Bengie Molina’s long drive in his glove.
“That’s the first time I’ve seen a guy jump, hit the wall and it’s an error,” Molina said.
In his first three plate appearances, all against Mike Maroth (0-1), Bonds never saw a pitch clocked above 81 mph. Bonds’ 10-game hitting streak ended, his longest since an 11-game run in August 2003.
“I threw him a lot of pitches in and stayed pretty soft, threw a lot of slow stuff,” Maroth said. “He laid off some pitches that were pretty good pitches.”
Randy Messenger got one out for his first career save.
Marlins 6, Dodgers 5, 10 innings
At Los Angeles, Hanley Ramirez hit two solo homers and drove in the go-ahead run with a bunt single in the 10th, handing the Dodgers their third straight loss.
Renyel Pinto (1-3) pitched two scoreless innings for his first career win, and Kevin Gregg got three outs for his 18th save in 19 tries. Gregg walked the bases loaded with two outs before retiring Juan Pierre on an easy popup.
The Marlins tied it in the ninth against closer Takashi Saito on a one-out walk to Dan Uggla and an RBI double by Miguel Cabrera. The blown save was the second this season for Saito in 25 attempts.
Braves 7, Padres 4
At San Diego, Andruw Jones homered off Justin Germano (5-3) and drove in three runs, and Buddy Carlyle (3-2) pitched eight strong innings against his former team. Atlanta beat the Padres for the fourth straight time this season.
Brewers 6, Nationals 2
At Washington, Ryan Braun homered twice, Dave Bush (7-7) took a shutout into the seventh inning and Milwaukee snapped a three-game skid.
Kevin Mench added a three-run drive in a four-run first inning against Mike Bacsik (2-6). The Brewers have homered in 15 consecutive games, their longest streak since a 19-game run in 1996. Corey Hart extended his hitting streak to 22 games.
Ronnie Belliard homered and had four hits for the Nationals, who have dropped nine of 11.
Astros 4, Mets 0
At Houston, Wandy Rodriguez (6-7) threw a four-hitter with eight strikeouts for his first career complete game and Lance Berkman hit a two-run homer off Mike Pelfrey (0-7).
Mets shortstop Jose Reyes was pulled in the eighth for failing to run out a grounder to third that he thought would go foul. It was the second time this week that Reyes was removed from a game after failing to run hard on a grounder.
Rockies 7, Phillies 6, 11 innings
At Denver, Brad Hawpe hit a tying homer off Antonio Alfonseca with two outs in the ninth, and Yorvit Torrealba’s two-out single in the 11th gave Colorado its fourth straight win overall and seventh in a row at Coors Field.
Pirates 8, Cubs 4
At Pittsburgh, Xavier Nady homered and drove in three runs to support the pitching of Paul Maholm (5-11), who hit a two-run single. All-Star Freddy Sanchez also homered off Jason Marquis (6-5) for the Pirates, who won their fourth straight. The Cubs had won 11 of 13 and were 21-10 since June 3.
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